Tuesday, 25 October 2016

A Billion Lives – What Are Public Health Officials Afraid Of ?

Around the UK, people have been applying to host a screening
of the award winning documentary ‘A Billion Lives’. To date, two screenings are confirmed –
Glasgow and Swansea. Others have not yet met their minimum quota of
reservations to guarantee a viewing.

Much has been made of the apathy of Vapers
around the country in not supporting the screening of this film, but Vapers are
not, and should not, be the focus for this film.

The people who SHOULD be coming to see this film in droves
are the Public Health officials, blinded by ideology, and the Politicians who
form laws and regulations based on those ideologies. But these are the very
people who will not see the film unless Vapers around the country rally to the
cause and reserve tickets for the different screenings being planned all around
the UK.

In Swansea, the numbers have been achieved because local Vendors
have got behind the rallying call in association with Vapers In Power. I
believe a similar scenario was achieved in Glasgow through the efforts of the
NNA’s Andy Morrison.

The problem is the old ‘you can lead a horse to water but
you cannot make them drink’ scenario. I am aware that many Scottish Public
Health officials and MSP’s have been invited to the Glasgow screening that
takes place in 26th October, but I am led to believe that very few
have accepted the offer.

Likewise, at Swansea screening (Swansea Odeon, 23rd November, 6pm) the plan is to invite Welsh Public Health officials, AMs, MPs, councillors and even representatives of charities
such as Tenovus, Cancer Research. An invitation is even been extended to the
man charged with Health of the Welsh nation - Welsh Chief Medical Officer – Dr Frank Atherton – all with the offer of free
tickets.

The question has to be asked, if such people truly believe
in the health and well-being of the Welsh public, then why wouldn’t they
attend?

So, to re-emphasise the title of this post, What Are Public
Health Officials AfraidOf ?

IMHO, any refusal by such prominent figures to attend or
acknowledge the existence of the film puts them in the very same category as
many of the figures and organisations featured in the film. It demonstrate
that the very people sucking from the public teat claiming to be protecting
Health are more motivated by money and care not a jot for the health of the Welsh public. It will PROVE that this subject has never
been about health.

In the USA, A Billion Lives had a special screening at the
Senate in front of many of America’s most prominent politicians.

So let’s see what our so-called ‘Guardians Of Welsh Public
Health’ do ?

What will our Politicians do - especially the misinformed ones like Mark Drakeford ?

Will they come and see the truth ? Or will they simply run
away and hide, scared that the real truth is finally coming out, and on the big
screen ?

So what is ‘A Billion Lives’ ?

Created by Aaron Biebert it examines
the history of smoking and the corruption that has led to the current situation
in which healthier alternatives are banned or heavily restricted in most countries
and the cigarette trade is continually protected.The title of the film is derived
from the claim (from the World Health Organisation) this century a billion
people are projected to die from smoking.

The film goes on outline the
history of the tobacco industry, including discussing the various ways in which
the tobacco companies tried to hide the effects of tobacco and tobacco products
on their users. Throughout the film, you hear from people such as David
Goerlitz (the Winston Man), Derek Yach (former Head of Tobacco Control for WHO
and the architect of the FCTC), Clive Bates (former CEO of ASH) and many more
of the world’s leading Public Health professionals.

It then describes the
attempts the tobacco industry has made to stop e-cigarettes from encroaching on
the money-making abilities of the large multinational corporations involved. It
examines many of the reasons many people are critical toward vaping, before
showing how money is integral to the tobacco industry's survival. Tackling
issues such as the involvement of pharmaceutical corporations and even
governments in dealings with tobacco companies, the documentary reaches out to
find out why there is such a negative bias toward vaping. Culminating in an
extensive breakdown of how much money is at stake in the hands of tobacco and pharmaceutical
industries, as well as Government, A
Billion Lives covers a wide range of topics related to smoking.

A Billion Lives has already won several awards across the
globe, including:

3 comments:

Excellent. However, I would add that we need vapers to go in their droves so that bigger film distributors pick up on the demand and drive it into bigger and more venues, along with putting out the very necessary big press releases to encourage the public, including public health, legislators and politicians to attend.

Correct. But many of the cinemas only have a capacity of 100. We need the Vapers to secure the bookings, but in an ideal world the cinemas would be full of PH officials and politicians, not Vapers. It's them that makes the rules and it's them that needs educating :-)

About Me

I was born in Wales way back in the year of 1963. I am bilingual - fluent in both Welsh and English - but can also lay claim to having some limited conversational abilities in French, Dutch and German.
My favourite sport is Rugby Union, which I played for more than 30 years until forced to retire due to injury. Consequently, I am a bit bigger than your average guy in that I am 6 foot tall and currently weigh 170lbs.
I am an accomplished musician having played in several brass bands and orchestras, therefore I can play a multitude of musical instruments.